Non Verbal Communication

Welcome back to another edition of Overseas With A Carry On!

It's been a few weeks since we last spoke, did you miss me? (Don't answer, I know you did!) I've missed out on so much where do I begin???

If you're a sports fanatic, O'dell Beckham Jr. and the New York Giants just dethroned the damn near invincible Cowboys. Klay Thompson had 60 points in 29 minutes, Russell Westbrook has been an automatic triple-double lately and Chris Paul just became the first player to ever record 20 points and 20 assists without a single turnover...let that sink in for a second. A point guard has the ball in his hands the majority of the game and to think he didn't cough it up or make a bad pass once is remarkable.

In non-athletic news, Kanye West suffered a mental breakdown (Let's pray for a safe recovery). Apple just released their newest MacBook Pro that features a new responsive "touchbar" located on the keyboard, meanwhile, I'm still typing away at the one I've had since college! And for my Torontonians, the first snowfall of winter has arrived...congratulations! Enjoy the next 4 months of shovelling snow and being secluded in the warmth of your home.😀

What's going on with me across the water you ask? A whole lot of the usual. The team has kind of hit a rough spot as we've fallen from 2nd to 4th in our conference. Nothing to stress about though, there's still a ton of basketball to be played; a winning streak here and there and we'll be right back in the hunt.

As you know, I'm a proud Canadian but I spent my high school and college years south of the border. I'm a self proclaimed honourary American -  I just need to remember to pronounce the letter "Z" as "zee" as opposed to British way of "zed".

Thanksgiving just passed and a few folks on my social media timelines were not too thrilled with the thought of celebrating Thanksgiving given what's been happening with the whole 'Dakota Pipeline' ordeal.

Nevertheless, that didn't stop many from posting their plates full of turkey and alllll the fixings! I happened to be in Tokyo for a road game and got together with a friend of mine who had a "little" dinner get-together. It was kind of a last minute thing he whipped up but by the looks of it, you would have thought it was a catered event!

Courtesy of my snapchat story you can see we had "turkey, greens, roast beef, fine cheeses, shrimp, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy - YOU NAME IT!!!!" If you have no clue what I'm talking about, you either do not subscribe to social media or you were living under a rock during Thanksgiving. In either case, give that link a click to see where the hoopla originated. It was pretty funny at its inception but we as a culture just know how to over do things and run it into the ground. It seemed like everyone and their momma created a video meme about it.

In the local news, I finally tried ramen noodles! I like Japan and some of their dishes are pretty good but I, unfortunately, can be a bit of a skeptic when it comes to authentic delicacies. For example, I'm sure you would agree with the statement: I like Chinese food. Well, in 2012 I went to China for a 2 week basketball tour and believe me, authentic Chinese IS NOT Panda Express and orange chicken!

We've all had or at least seen the ramen noodle cups; the ones in your pantry that have been there since the beginning of time and seem too outdated to eat. Well, in Japan ramen is quite the opposite. It's a go-to staple! I call it Japans' fast food. My general rule-of-thumb when overseas is if I don't know what's in it, I'm not touching it. (Actually, that's my rule even when I'm back home come to think about it) But sometimes you have to let go of fears and jump in head first...or nah.

Me: Yeah, give it a try. It can't kill you to try something new
Inner Me: If you think for one second I'm touching that, *snaps fingers*,  may thunder fire down upon you!

The language barrier doesn't allow me to even inquire what the ingredients in some dishes are, so I'm left to play the guessing game and roll the dice. I'm not much of a gambling man (although I did win $45 from the slots this summer in Vegas) so I tend to retreat to the 'lakes and rivers that I'm used to.'
But this time I was accompanied by our team translator and he was able to get the inside of scoop and I decided to live on the edge a bit and well...

This is not your top self ramen! Instead of the usual pork based broth, these delicious noodles are sitting in a sea of curry sauce. Curry is pretty big over here and is normally eaten with rice but some chef decided to make a soup broth out of it and I must say, he's a genius. For 150 yen you can add another helping of noodles to your bowl - I had 2 refills proudly. 😌

A question I get a lot is how do I order food at restaurants while not speaking Japanese. In most cases, the menu items are accompanied by pictures of each item. So it's nothing but a finger point and a head nod. They usually spit something back to me in Japanese to which I just pretend to understand in acknowledgement. Although, I'm always left to wonder, "What did I just agree to?"

In other cases, many quick eateries and highway service station restaurants operate with a purchased ticket mechanism. As you see on the left,  menu items are pictured and with a particular number. That number corresponds with the machine on the right.

Simply:

• purchase your desired meal, 
• obtain your ticket 
• hand ticket to store clerk  

And within minutes your order is up.

As I've said to those who have previously inquired, "There are times I go out to eat and I don't utter a word."

Literally, no communication is needed. This is ideal when you're trying to serve many customers at a rapid pace. No small talk with the cashier, just efficiency! In other words, Japan in a microcosm.

I hope you you've enjoyed this entry. I try to keep things relevant so waiting the extra week or two really allowed me to give you authentic content. I appreciate you for staying patient and loyal.  The journey continues. 

If you'd like to follow my snapchat account, the handle is @O_Ash, as is my Instagram.

If you have any questions or topics you'd like me to discuss, do not hesitate to leave a comment!

Until the next time, thanks for embarking on this journey with me. 

#OWACO

That's Gold!

Hello guys and gals, welcome back to Overseas With A Carry On! How is everything on your end? The majority of you are probably over the shock that the summer is over and school is in full swing. Some are continuing to plug away at your job or who knows, maybe you're just getting back from a well deserved vacation. Over here, I'm finally settled in and ready for the season to kick off. Speaking of settling in, this year was most definitely the easiest transition from unpacking duffel bags to looking like I belonged in my apartment...

(And yes, we are all duffel bag boys. I don't know a fellow basketball player that travels with suitcases. It's just the code we live by. Unless one is travelling with his spouse and/or children - that is the way the committee will permit such actions.)

...Usually when I arrive to a new team, we get straight to practice. Us imports are the last to arrive so we're technically behind the local teammates who have been around throughout the summer months training. In addition to jet lag, you haven't a clue where anything in the town is, you're adjusting to a new schedule and worst of all, your refrigerator is empty. There's a simple way to combat all of this and I'm going to break it down for you in a simple 2 step process:

Step 1: Re-sign to a team that you've previously played for.

3 years ago when I initially debuted this blog, I was playing in Evreux, France. It was a great learning experience for me both on and off the court. It had always been a dream of mine to play in France, especially after vacationing to Paris the year before (being bilingual also helped). The following year I made the move to Japan and suited up for Hamamatsu Phoenix. That season, we won the league championship. The town was and still is a small rural city so finding your way around was pretty easy. Moral of the story: Go to a place you're familiar with so there's no learning curve and it's just like walking down memory lane.

Step 2: Invest

Invest in yourself! I literally signed up and purchased my Costco membership the day before departing for Japan. As mentioned in step 1, being familiar and having prior knowledge that a Costco Wholesale store was only roughly 50 minutes away, I paid the cost to be a boss. With this little guy in hand, I was fortunate enough to make the drive the very next day and stock up on a bunch of groceries and necessities. Some items I'll have to buy over and over again and some, I'll never have to spend another yen on. 

I know some of my readers are still flabbergasted that Costco exists in Japan and are wondering if it's the same as it is in North America..it is! The huge inventory, big bulk packaging, exact same layout, etc. The items are clearly tailored to the local taste so, certain items that you are used to seeing back state-side/province-side will not be on hand. But in a land far far away from home, beggars can't be choosers. The only thing that could possibly beat having a Costco is having a military base nearby. Shopping in there literally makes you feel as if you've teleported back home! Here's a list of the US military presence in Japan.

And that's how you get over the hump of getting accustom to your new surroundings; make them your old ones. I've got the same jersey number, same apartment, same parking spot - I didn't even have ask for the wifi password, my devices connected automatically...

Onto more serious business, like the basketball in Japan. I enjoy it. The local talent continues to rise and are relied upon heavily to help a team win. Why is that you ask? Because over the last few years, there have been a number of changes to the rules of how many foreigners a team can have and how many can be on the court at the same time. Stick with me here...

This year in the new B. League (Japan Basketball recently combined both the professional BJ League and  the company sponsored NBL into one body), each team may have up to 3 foreign born players. In most instances these are Americans, in my case, a Canadian or Nigerian or whatever nation you want to peg me to. For 2 quarters of play, you're allowed 1 foreigner on the court at a time and for the other 2 quarters, you're allowed 2.

If you have a naturalized Japanese player, such as someone who is a foreign born player but has lived in the country for a number of years or married a local and has received a Japanese passport/citizenship, he still counts as a foreigner BUT is allowed to play as a "local" when his team is playing 1 legitimatel import. So in other words, his team could essentially play 2 foreign born players the entire game. If I recall from my business undergrad at Louisiana Tech, we call that a competitive advantage.

Oh yeah, this year teams must announce prior to each game which particular quarters it plans to use 1 import and which ones you plan to use 2. Will it be 2-1-2-1, 1-2-1-2, 2-1-1-2? You can come up with whichever pattern you like but this has to be declared and cannot change once it is set. It can though be changed from game to game. Weird stuff!

Last year things weren't so messy - each team had a limit of 3 imported foreigners. You were allowed to have 2 of them on the court at any time. As far as naturalized players went, I believe (don't quote me) they still counted as a full import. You could not have 3 foreign born players on the court under any circumstance. In the NBL is where I believe that player would not count as foreigner. I didn't compete in that league so my word is not gospel, just an educated assumption.

Back to my first year in Japan, each team was allowed 4 imported players but the playing time split was altogether different. The 1st/3rd quarters allowed 2 on the court and the 2nd/4th allowed 3. As you can see, it can be a bit difficult to predict match ups and thus affects scouting, recruiting and so on. A few years prior to that, the league allowed each team to have 5 imports! Over the years, the numbers have dwindled and jobs have become more scarce. I think I speak for the majority of my counterparts when I say it's a blessing to know you are employed come the beginning of September.

Over the years, we've all heard and seen a lot of transitions and changes in food and society wanting becoming as healthy as we can be. First it was becoming a vegetarian (yeah right), then some upped the ante by becoming vegans, others went gluten free and some opted for the "Paleo" diet...

I've had a roller coaster ride trying to balance being healthy, not depriving myself of fuel, being a foodie and dealing with the local menu. On the following entry I'll dive a bit into some changes I've made to my personal diet. Until the next entry, thank you all for reading. 

If you enjoy what the content, please hit the follow button, drop a comment, share it socially, etc! I'd love to interact with some of my readers and hopefully answer questions you all may have. Thanks for reading and stay blessed. 

#OWACO

Special shoutouts go to my trainer back in Toronto, Vlad & Co. at +Real Basketball Training Inc.! He trains the top talent in the city at all levels from youth to such pros as Anthony Bennet, Brady Heslip and  Dwight Powell to name a few. You can check him out at his website www.realbasketballtraining.com 

P.S. We lost 3 greats over the past few months to retirement - thank you to the Black Mamba, the Big Fundamental & the Big Ticket on illustrious careers.

#Legends

Damnnnn Daniel..back at it again!

Well, well, well.

Where do I begin..How about with those who don't remember who Daniel is...How could you forget?

In other news, it feels like it was just 2014 and I was back in France eating a croissant (or two..maybe even three), Obama still had a few years left in his presidency and the 'Running Man' dance still had some dignity

Fast forward two years and a lot has changed - for example, I'm no longer playing in Europe, Donald Trump is running for President, hover boards came and went & lastly, if you've watched 'American Crime Story; The People vs OJ Simpson', you can't help but wonder how he got off.

But that's neither here nor there.

As for the 2+ year hiatus? All I can really say is, my baaaaad y'all.

No, really, there isn't a reasonable answer as to why.  Perhaps I got caught up with Hello Kitty and anime over here in Japan and I lost my way. Or maybe it was the struggle to use chopsticks that left my hands in no shape to type. Or quite frankly, it may have been the back-to-back games every weekend over a 52 game schedule that left me utterly fatigued.  Whatever excuse you chose to accept, I humbly accept and am indebted to my readers who questioned the disappearance of the entries. Don't get me wrong; ideas and blog posts filled my brain but I just lacked the thrill to translate those thoughts from my head to the keyboard. It was more a case of 'I didn't want to force the issue.'

I didn't want to force the content.

If I was and am going to deliver an entry, I want it to be original and authentic. Genuine. At the time, I simply didn't feel it, was so I decided to spare you my prattle and wait until the time was right - and as the saying goes, "The time is now."

It's a rainy Wednesday afternoon here in Osaka, Japan. This is where I have called home for the past 8 months and counting. As I sit on my 2 seater couch of my 1 bedroom apartment, I relish in the sound of the rain on my window pane. The bedroom and living are separated by a typical Japanese sliding-door mechanism that I find to be absolutely genius. You can close off and separate each or combine both and have large open space in seconds - flexibility at its best!

As I peak out the window to nothing but grey skies, gloom and the sounds of trickling rain, I think about the past season. The ups, the downs, the highs, and the lows. We finished 6th in the tough Western conference of the Turkish Airlines-sponsored 'Basketball Japan' League. A difference from my 3rd place finish on my former team the previous season, Hamamatsu Phoenix.
That Hamamatsu team featured a great group of both local Japanese talent and imported American (and Canadian, hehe) muscle. That team went on to defeat the #2 ranked team in a best-of-three series on the road to punch our ticket to the final 4 in Ariake. The final 4 was then switched from a series set-up to a 1 game elimination set-up à la the NCAA March Madness tournament. We defeated the #4 ranked team in the west and then went ahead and beat a very good Akita team who were ranked #1 in the East.

And just like that, I became a champion on the big stage. Prior to last season, my previous two seasons as a pro in France and Spain both ended in a semi-final loss. But this time, things would be different. It would be me running through the confetti shower; it would be my teammates and I rejoicing and celebrating unbridledly...and we did just that!

Unfortunately we were unable to duplicate that feeling this time around. We came up a week short of the opportunity to play for the title. 7 days. 168 hours. 10,080 extra minutes in our season and we could have been playing for all the marbles. It hurts when you put it into those kind of terms. Although, there's gratitude in knowing we left it on all on the floor. Listening to motivational speaker and workout junky CT Fletcher speak, he says "there's victory & satisfaction(13:07) in knowing that you gave your absolutely best and falling short." We left nothing in the tank, the opposition was simply better on that day - and I can live with that.

As the summer approaches, the usual schedule entails: rest, rehab, recovery, train, continue to develop and progress, kick back and enjoy the weather, eat as much comfort food as possible and get ready for the grind yet again. The summer is short so I've got to pack in as many moments and memories as possible in a 80-90 period. I've done the math and from my calculations, 3 days overseas is equivalent to 1 day back home. So if you look at it in that light, you've got to make everyday worthwhile and productive. You can always get material possessions back but time, time is of the essence. Spend it wisely.

I hope that you all forgive me for Houdini disappearing act. I will definitely be more consistent in the following season wherever it is I end up.

I may even surprise you with a pop-up summer entry or two! Stay tuned..


P.S.

Kobe we will miss you.
RIP Prince.
Thanks Drake for Views.
Twitter/Instagram contacts are posted in the banner but I've recently joined the Snapchat gang: O_Ash

Thank you all for reading and supporting the journey thus far...I'm merely a kid playing the game he loves who just happens to be 'Overseas With A Carry-On.'

#OWACO

Update: I began this entry about 10 days ago. It has sat here on my laptop waiting to be editted and published. Big shout out to the home team Raptors for beating the Cavs last night. Everyone thought we'd simply cave and be swept but that's not in the cities' DNA. You all need to put some respect on our name!

Oh Canada/Shut up and Drive

Happy Sunday everyone!

I would like to start this weeks' post with a little song I like to call my national anthem.

*Ahem*

"Oh Canada, our home and native land. True patriot love, with all thy sons command..."

You know the rest - or at least you should! Today makes the second time you should have heard it as the men's olympic hockey team took gold over the Swiss in a 3-0 victory. Our women's hockey team also took gold against, our southern neighbours, the United States in a 3-2 victory just days before. Being Canadian, everyone else in the world believes that I play or played hockey and that I should somehow, be immune and enjoy cold weather.  Those are misconceived notions that I will live the rest of my life having to disprove. A little tidbit about todays' early morning gold medal game: the city of Toronto council voted and approved bars to start serving alcohol at 7am in the order for spectators to enjoy the monumental hockey game. Molson Canadian and Labatt Blue beers for breakfast? Don't you wish you were from Toronto?

Downtown Toronto, ON after the Gold medal game

Okay, enough gloating and boasting. Let's look at a few differences in regards to driving overseas and driving back home.  For starters, as mentioned in previous posts, driving a manual car in as opposed to driving an automatic will be an adjustment for many.  Prior to my first contract in Spain, my agent advised me in the months leading up to my departure to practice and at least get comfortable with the basics.  Needless to say, I was TURRIBLE. [Insert Charles Barkley voice.] Getting from stationary to first gear was the most difficult change of gears because it required the most precision, a delicate touch and a keen sense of balance between clutch and gas.  If you do not complete a smooth exchange of releasing the clutch and applying gas, you'll do what I did repeatedly: stall out!  Even worse than stalling out from being parked is stalling out on a inclined road...with angry drivers behind you...hooking their horns and perhaps screaming curse words in their native tongue at you. 

*Deep Sigh*

It happens to the best of us.  Last year in the small town of Càceres, Spain, I would go out in the late night to hone my skills. There weren't many vehicles on the road at that time so it was then where I was able to build my confidence and apply it to day time driving without any pressure. A few times of getting comfortable with the clutch, getting from 1st to 2nd gear on a hill and parallel parking - I think it's safe to say I'm somewhat of a pro these days.

Next on my rant is topic of size! If you think back to any old European film clips you may have caught growing up, I'm quite sure you remember seeing vary narrow lanes and/or vehicles that resembled more of a go-kart rather than a Ford Focus.

Evreux, France

Many roads like this would be an assumed 1-way street in most North American cities, but here this is a 2 lane road with bilateral traffic.  The sole reason why streets like these can allow for the 2-way traffic is thanks largely in part to the vast number of compact and economy sized vehicles.  Below I have gathered a collage of a few smart-car-esque sized cars throughout the city.

With the average price of gas in France being €1.52 per liter, you can see why such smaller vehicles are more common than typical large sedans or SUVs found stateside.  I see a lot of people walking throughout the town (especially the elderly) and many others using other means of transportation such as scooters and motorcycles.

Last but not least, let's discuss location and placement.  At many street lights in my town of  Evreux, street lights are not suspended high above but are placed at eye level on electricity poles. I understand the logic but when you're the first car at the intersection and you're looking up for a green light and the lane beside you begins moving, well you guessed it. You'll hear the sounds of horns behind you and you'll catch a few hostile gestures if you peek in the rear view mirror. You will receive this kind of treatment when 1) driving slow in a unfamiliar city such as Paris and 2) doing so while trying to locate street names.  For the most part, many street signs are not as they are back home and you will not find them attached to a pole. What you will find are signs with street names plastered onto buildings that happen to be on that particular street. Once again, I can kind of understand the logic but I would simply prefer things to be like they are back home in North America. But that's wishful thinking and that's what makes the experience of working overseas such a memorable one. Stepping out of your comfort zone, adapting to a new lifestyle, engaging in a new culture is all apart of the it - you just didn't see it written in the contract. U.N.E.N.O.

Until the next my fellow readers, 

Thank you for the support thus far.  Feedback is always welcome. Please leave any comments or questions below or feel free to contact me at oluash@gmail.com

Olu

#OWACO

P.S. I was dead on with my 2014 All Star Game prediction! The Eastern Conference took that in clean fashion but I did not foresee Kyrie Irving winning the MVP.